t prudent to interfere. I went up the rigging, calling upon
the sailors to do their duty cheerfully, telling them that there were no
devils, and that the priest who pretended to see them was a fool. But it
was in vain that I spoke in the most forcible manner, in vain that I went
to work myself, and shewed that safety was only to be insured by active
means, I could not prevent the priest declaring that I was an Atheist,
and he managed to rouse against me the anger of the greatest part of the
crew. The wind continued to lash the sea into fury for the two following
days, and the knave contrived to persuade the sailors who listened to him
that the hurricane would not abate as long as I was on board. Imbued with
that conviction, one of the men, thinking he had found a good opportunity
of fulfilling the wishes of the priest, came up to me as I was standing
at the extreme end of the forecastle, and pushed me so roughly that I was
thrown over. I should have been irretrievably lost, but the sharp point
of an anchor, hanging along the side of the ship, catching in my clothes,
prevented me from falling in the sea, and proved truly my sheet-anchor.
Some men came to my assistance, and I was saved. A corporal then pointed
out to me the sailor who had tried to murder me, and taking a stout stick
I treated the scoundrel to a sound thrashing; but the sailors, headed by
the furious priest, rushed towards us when they heard his screams, and I
should have been killed if the soldiers had not taken my part. The
commander and M. Dolfin then came on deck, but they were compelled to
listen to the chaplain, and to promise, in order to pacify the vile
rabble, that they would land me at the first opportunity. But even this
was not enough; the priest demanded that I should give up to him a
certain parchment that I had purchased from a Greek at Malamocco just
before sailing. I had no recollection of it, but it was true. I laughed,
and gave it to M. Dolfin; he handed it to the fanatic chaplain, who,
exulting in his victory, called for a large pan of live coals from the
cook's galley, and made an auto-da-fe of the document. The unlucky
parchment, before it was entirely consumed, kept writhing on the fire for
half an hour, and the priest did not fail to represent those contortions
as a miracle, and all the sailors were sure that it was an infernal
manuscript given to me by the devil. The virtue claimed for that piece of
parchment by the man who had sold i